From owner-freebsd-hardware Sat Jul 6 22:40:12 1996 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id WAA28687 for hardware-outgoing; Sat, 6 Jul 1996 22:40:12 -0700 (PDT) Received: from MindBender.HeadCandy.com (root@mindbender.headcandy.com [199.238.225.168]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id WAA28665 for ; Sat, 6 Jul 1996 22:40:07 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost.HeadCandy.com (michaelv@localhost.HeadCandy.com [127.0.0.1]) by MindBender.HeadCandy.com (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id WAA01617; Sat, 6 Jul 1996 22:39:38 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199607070539.WAA01617@MindBender.HeadCandy.com> X-Authentication-Warning: MindBender.HeadCandy.com: Host michaelv@localhost.HeadCandy.com [127.0.0.1] didn't use HELO protocol To: Henry Spencer cc: Joel Yancey , "Jacob M. Parnas" , hardware@freebsd.org, bsdi-users@bsdi.com Subject: Re: cable vs. ISDN In-reply-to: Your message of Sat, 06 Jul 96 23:49:35 -0400. Date: Sat, 06 Jul 1996 22:39:38 -0700 From: "Michael L. VanLoon -- HeadCandy.com" Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk >> *I* myself, dont like that opinion, because the cable company doesnt >> really know what a computer system is all about, and i dont like the fact >> that then they would have a monopoly. >What do you think of phone companies? It may come down to a choice of two >evils. As I said above: they own the wires, so there's not a lot of >room to maneuver. If you don't like monopolies, start lobbying now for >competitive cable and phone services. Uh, the economics of that are rather unworkable. These are "controlled monopolies". The monopolies are provided to the companies for service in an area, and in return the companies give up pricing control to regulatory agencies. This is comonly done where public access is limited in some way (such as redundant infrastructure wiring costs), and granting a controlled monopoly is actually in the public interest. It's only the largest service areas that have *any* competition, and then it's only two or three companies. The infrastructure costs are way too high to make a true free market companies work (forget me if I forget my economics terminology). If six different companies were to string redundant wiring across your city, they'd likely all go out of business from excessive infrastructure costs, with too little return on investment. One of the few ways this could be made to work would be if the city owned the wiring, and leased access to competing phone and cable companies, who only had to worry about providing the actual dial tone and picture. But then you'd be paying the city for all the infrastructure, and the the phone and cable company a second time for your service. This is why, if you get down to the bottom of it, in many competing areas, some companies are actually leasing wire from the company they're competing against. It simply isn't possible to put in their own redundant wiring and recoup the costs. If there are any well-studied economists in our midst, they can probably explain this way better than I can. To stray waaay off the subject... ;-) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael L. VanLoon michaelv@HeadCandy.com --< Free your mind and your machine -- NetBSD free un*x >-- NetBSD working ports: 386+PC, Mac 68k, Amiga, Atari 68k, HP300, Sun3, Sun4/4c/4m, DEC MIPS, DEC Alpha, PC532, VAX, MVME68k, arm32... NetBSD ports in progress: PICA, others... Roll your own Internet access -- Seattle People's Internet cooperative. If you're in the Seattle area, ask me how. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------